Nevada County picayune., 1887-11-09
A Thrilling Experience.

Prof. Del Dare, the intrepid traptze balloOnist. gave the fol- lowing as his experience in as sending last Saturday evening:
 "The ascension was the most thrilling experience have eyer had in the air. At a height of f.. 300 feet l started to climb into the basket from my tiapez, which hung some six feet below. The trapeze consists of an iron tube about two feet long, simply sus- pended on rope running through it and attached above like a swing. The basket Is not like the com. mon willow basket in use, but it is an invention of CArlotta, who pat ented it, and consists of a light board platform, one half inch thick, suspended by hammock net ting to concentrating ring above, and acts very much like an Ordi- nary hammock with a broad beard laid in it. Anyone who has ever tumbled out of a hammock will have an idea of how unsteady 1t feels and this disposition to tip is made use of by Carlotta to partly guide the course of the balloon in rising or falling, as the slightest change in the aeronaut's position alters the instinctiOn of the plat
 form and serves to deviate the balloons course somewhat, and many of the marvellous flights and descents she has made are due 10 to her skill in managing this "rud- der platform" as she calls it. As l started to climb up into this bas. ke; my weight tipped the plat
 form downward and thrust the trapez in the opposite direction so that l then lay upon my back in mid air nearly d mile high, with my feet thrust hard against the trapeze bar, and my hand grasp
 ing the hammock netting. If any one will lie on the ground beneath hammock and grasping ham, mock immediately above, aud try to climb into 1t, he can appreciate the situation, only a mile height distance don't "lend encliantment to the ,iew.' l had to let go somewhere, and l slipped my feet off the trapeze bar and swung in. to space, hanging by the hammock netting twine, as q loop of rope, previously arranged, like stir rup for mounting, had slipped out Of reach, and the trapeze hung on the opposite side of the platform and out of sight and reach. l climbed the meshes hand over hand, afraid each mesh would break or my hands give way, through pain from grasping the small cords. Mir. George Casler Professor Mey CTS assistant, Occu- pied the platform above me and tried to assist me but could not render me service, as l Was afraid a touch would send me off, and just then didn't "want the earth" nor have any present use for it. AS l climbed the netting the an chOr caught into the jacket of my gymnast suit and the hooks held me from rising further. There l hung, held by two small cords of hammock twine, my trapeze away across from me and out of sight and flrmly held rom rising by the anchor hooks. At the risk oi breaking the hammock twine, or my hold, let go one hand and de- tached the anchor from my jacket and then recommended to climb and finally grasped the rim of the basket and next the conceutra ting ring above and managed to pull myself inside the netting which had been violently swing. ing with my efforts all the time. Mir. Casler said was white, and l know l was in a fever of excite. ment. I never climbed into bas' ket from my trapeze before, and never shall try it again."
 A printer stood at tho desk of d business man the other day and